Poultry-car



(No Model.)

I. X. MUD-D.

POULTRY GAR.

No. 539,229. Patented May 14, 1895.

Umre" STATES PATENT, Prion,

FRANCIS X MUDD, on orncneo, ILLINOIS.

sou T RY-CAR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 539,229, dated May-14, 1895.

- Application filed October 15, 1894. Serial No. 525,999-' (No model.)

To all whom it may concern: i Be itknown that I, FRANCIS X. MUDD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago,

* in the county of Cook and State of Illinois,

' haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Poultry-Oars, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvementin the class ofcars for shipping live poultry, to which belongs the improvement in poultry-. cars for which Letters Patent of the United States No. 489,657 were granted to me January 10, 1893.

My present invention relates, more particu larly, to an improvement in the t'roughsprovided in the coops to contain the feed and water for the poultry. According to my aforesaid patent the troughs are supported near their opposite ends on hook-shaped bearings provided for them and rigidly suspended from the sides of the coops. This arrangement is undesirable for two reasons, In the first place the trough in a coop, by projecting into it, affords a space so narrow, vertically, underneath it that a fowl cannot stand under it and if it gets into that position, particularly if it be weak, it is liable to be crowded or packed by the other fowls in the coop and killed; secondly, by the old structure referred to, wherein the troughs are adapted to be inserted into the coops and withdrawn therefrom, at the aisle, through openings at or near the corners of the adjacent doors, many of the troughs are stolen or lost, owing to the ease with which they may be removed, notwithstanding the greater length of a trough than the width of the aisle, since by drawing a trough lengthwise from its hanger-supports into the aisle far enough to withdraw it from its outer hanger-support, it may then readily be turned to such an angle as to enable its entire length to be pulled out into the aisle.

My object is to provide a construction of the trough-feature in a poultry-car whereby both the objectionable incidents of the former construction referred to shall be overcome. This I accomplish by my improvement hereinafter described and claimed and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a broken cross-sectional view of a portion of a poultry-car, showing coops at one side of the aisle provided with my trough improvement.

Fig. 2 is a broken section taken at the line 2 on Fig. 1' and viewed inthe direction 'of the arrow; and Fig. 3 is a similar section, but enlarged, taken at the line 3 on Figiland viewed in the direction of the arrow. Y

The coops Bin the poultry-car A may involve any suitable, or the usual general, con- 6o struction th'ereof,provi'ded in vertical tiers at oppositesides of an aisle 0, though the drawings show them only at one side of the aisle owing to the nature of the views selected for illustratingfmy improvement.- As usual, the frame-work of the coop-structure involves the inner and outer uprights or posts D and D between which, extending lengthwise of the car, are the tie beams D D formed with inwardly-projecting offsets 'r, r, affording seats for the coop-floors E, and the transverse beams D Through the uprights D at each coop, near the door H thereof, I form an opening 10 at which to insert and withdraw for replenishing, from the aisle 0, a trough G, the length of which should be sufficient to cause it to extend, when in place, and abut at its outer end, against a post D with the inner end projecting into the opening 19.

As the means for supporting the trough near its opposite ends I provide two hangers I and I, in the form of yokes, embracing a beam D at their arms, whereby they align with the respective opening 19, the outer hanger I being fastened pivotally, as indicated, at a, while 8 5 the inner hangerl is rigidly fastened in place.

In the hangers is supported a shell G, shorter than the trough but shaped like the latter, or

at least sufficiently conforming to its shape to cause it to fit therein or admit of its being 0 readily slid endwise into the shell.

By the means thus described, the troughs for the coops lie directly underneath the beams D, (the space below each beingreduced in vertical dimension by a slat 0, if necessary to prevent the fowls from one coop entering the next,) whereby'all'danger of the packing referred to below the troughs, is obviated. Moreover, a trough cannot be so readily withdrawn as it would have to be to in- I00 duce a thief to undertake the operation, since, though it may easily be drawn out straight into the aisle, being longer than the width of the latter, it cannot be entirely so withdrawn;

and the shell G affords a safeguard-or stop against turning (as laterally) the partially withdrawn trough sufiticiently to enable 'its complete withdrawal to be accomplished.

A further advantage of providing the troughs in the position underneath the beams D according to my improvement, is due to the fact that there the fowls cannot roost upon them and thereby render them receptacles for droppings; though any dirt that does accumulate in the shells is scraped out by the act of inserting a trough into it, owing to the length of the latter which causes it to reach, at its outer end, short of the adjacent post D.

My improvement does not render the operation of removing the troughs so arduous or long as to be in the least impracticable, for all that is necessary to eifect the removal of a trough is to loosen the fastenings of its hanger I, thereby permitting the latter with the end it supports of the shell to drop, thus leaving the trough with one end resting in the openingp and the other end resting in the hanger l, in which position it may be drawn lengthwise far enough into the aisle to clear the hanger I and permit of its being swung laterally, (owing to the shell G being then out of the way) far enough to clear, at the outer end of the trough, the side of a postD'. Then the trough may be pushed inward past the post D till the inner end of the trough clears the openingp, when it drops on the floor E and may be taken out through the door H.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

' 1.' Ina poultry-car containing coops at opposite sides of an aisle, the upright posts, at the aisle, of the frame-work of the coops said posts having openings, at which to insert and withdraw the troughs, and troughs supported in the coops to extend lengthwise of and underneath the transverse beams of their framework, substantially as described.

2. In a poultry-car containing coops at opposite sides of an aisle, the upright posts, at the aisle, of the frame-work of the coops said posts having openings, at which to insert and withdraw the troughs, shells supported in the coops to extend lengthwise of and underneath the transverse beams of their frame-work, and troughs removably confined in the shells, substantially as described. i

3. In a poultry-car containing coops at opposite sides of an aisle, the upright posts D of the frame-work of the coops, containing the openings 19, the transverse beams D of said framework, having suspended from them the pivotal yoke-hangers I and the rigid yokehangers I, shells G supported in said yokes to extend lengthwise of and underneath said transverse beams, and troughs Gin the shells, substantially as described.

FRANCIS X. MUDD.

In presence ot'- J .N. HANSON, M. J. FROST. 

